Modernizing and Elevating the Teaching Profession

The Center for American Progress recognizes that no education reform effort can be successful without teachers. High-quality teaching is essential to all efforts to improve students’ learning and has the greatest impact for students who are mostly likely to start school behind their peers academically. For too long, teachers have been an afterthought, underpaid and undervalued. We are working to modernize and elevate the teaching profession so that teachers receive the training, pay, and respect they deserve, and every student has access to high-quality teachers.

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A First 100 Days Agenda for K-12 Education Report
 (A school bus drives down a street in Waitsfield, Vermont, February 2013.)

A First 100 Days Agenda for K-12 Education

The next presidential administration must take immediate, bold action to provide a quality education for every child.

Scott Sargrad, Khalilah M. Harris, Lisette Partelow, 2 More Neil Campbell, Laura Jimenez

Successful Implementation of High-Quality Instructional Materials Report
Teachers gather for a training session at SATO Academy of Math and Science in Long Beach, California, as they get ready for the first day of school. (Getty/Brittany Murray)

Successful Implementation of High-Quality Instructional Materials

Numerous studies underscore the effects of high-quality curricula on student achievement, but to achieve the intended goal of adopting such curricula, careful attention must be paid to the implementation process.

Amanda Fuchs Miller, Lisette Partelow

Student Debt: An Overlooked Barrier to Increasing Teacher Diversity Report
A principal visits a classroom at a New Orleans elementary school, January 2015. (Getty/Melanie Stetson Freeman/The Christian Science Monitor)

Student Debt: An Overlooked Barrier to Increasing Teacher Diversity

Black and Latinx students’ disparate experiences with student loan debt compared with their white counterparts may affect their choice to enter or stay in the teaching profession.

Bayliss Fiddiman, Colleen Campbell, Lisette Partelow

A Quality Education for Every Child Report
Fifth and sixth grade students warm up for class at an elementary school in Washington, D.C., October 2012. (Getty/The Washington Post/Astrid Riecken)

A Quality Education for Every Child

The time is now for policymakers to take a bold and comprehensive approach to K-12 education.

Scott Sargrad, Khalilah M. Harris, Lisette Partelow, 2 More Neil Campbell, Laura Jimenez

Strikes Driving Change in States With Lowest-Paid Teachers Article
Striking teachers and their supporters rally in downtown Los Angeles on the second day of this year's teachers strike, January 2019. (Getty/Robyn Beck)

Strikes Driving Change in States With Lowest-Paid Teachers

In states with the lowest teacher pay, teacher protests have been common, as has legislative action to increase salaries.

Lisette Partelow, Abby Quirk

Homework and Higher Standards Report
A teenager helps her younger sister complete her math homework at their Denver home, January 2018. (Getty/The Denver Post/AAron Ontiveroz)

Homework and Higher Standards

CAP analysis found that homework is generally aligned to Common Core State Standards, but additional policy changes would make it more valuable.

Ulrich Boser, Meg Benner, John Smithson

11 Ways New Governors Can Lead on Education Through Executive Actions Report
A kindergarten teacher in Los Angeles uses an electric heater for her classroom; the school's air conditioning and heating system has been out of service for more than a year. (Getty/Rick Meyer)

11 Ways New Governors Can Lead on Education Through Executive Actions

From teacher pay to school infrastructure to workforce readiness, new governors should move quickly to advance key education priorities in their states.

Scott Sargrad, Lisette Partelow, Jessica Yin

Curriculum Reform in the Nation’s Largest School Districts Report

Curriculum Reform in the Nation’s Largest School Districts

This report provides an analysis of the instructional materials used by the 30 largest school districts in the country.

Lisette Partelow, Sarah Shapiro

How to Give Teachers a $10,000 Raise Report
Teachers don red and march around the capitol grounds en masse during a teachers rally for more educational funding at the Colorado State Capitol, April 27, 2018. (Getty/The Denver Post/AAron Ontiveroz)

How to Give Teachers a $10,000 Raise

Because teachers’ compensation should reflect the importance of their work, CAP proposes a $10,000 federal Teacher Tax Credit that would increase pay for eligible teachers in high-poverty schools.

Meg Benner, Erin Roth, Stephenie Johnson, 1 More Kate Bahn

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